Kondo Winery Pinot Noir 2021 750ml
Kondo Vineyard" had its first vineyard cultivated in 2007. However, the current approach to vineyards and winemaking is based on more than ten years of experience leading up to that point. It may take a bit longer, but I have summarized the journey so far, so I hope you will stay with me.
The Reason I Entered This World In 1997, as the countdown to the millennium was about to begin, I graduated from a university in Kobe. While my friends around me were busy with job hunting, I spent my days feeling a sense of discomfort that I couldn't quite put into words.
What do I want to do with my future...?
It's a path everyone contemplates at least once when deciding their career.
As I dug deeper into my thoughts, I became vaguely anxious about the changes that would occur in the Earth's environment in the near future. That's when the idea of working in food production, in other words, agriculture, came to mind. I had seen my maternal family in Hokkaido growing vegetables since I was a child, and I thought that as long as I was engaged in agriculture, I wouldn't have to worry about food, no matter what happened.
Looking back now, it's a simplistic and selfish reasoning, but it's also a sad fact that the world hasn't improved much in the more than 20 years since.
At that time, I had almost no connection to wine, but this was my first step.
And Then to Utashinai In the fall of that same year, I sought advice from a public support organization about starting agriculture in Hokkaido. They introduced me to a position for a grape cultivation technician for wine production in a place called Utashinai City.
"Wait, where is Utashinai? I've never even had wine before..."
Life is unpredictable. I had no interest in grapes or wine, but the thought of starting farming in a stable environment, rather than completely on my own, led me to decide to go to Utashinai.
In 1998, I spent a year training at a grape farm in Yoichi before moving to Utashinai. The Fujimoto Farm, where I trained, was, as far as I know, the largest in Japan at the time. The farm owner, Mr. Fujimoto, was an innovative figure who still seems superhuman to me. The things I learned there over the year became the foundation of my career as a farmer and were invaluable experiences.
From 1999 to 2006, for eight years, I was deeply involved in growing grapes for wine in Utashinai, the smallest city in Japan. Despite changes like the vineyard being transferred to a private company, I remained committed to grape cultivation.
A Fateful Encounter In the first two years in Utashinai, I was working blindly. By the third or fourth year, I began to grasp the physiology of the grapes and the yearly work cycle. Around the fifth year, I started forming my own ideas.
The turning point came in the last two seasons, from 2005 to 2006.
In 2005, thanks to my connection with Mr. Nakazawa of Nakazawa Vineyard, who had a long-standing technical exchange, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to commission wine production at Coco Farm Winery in Tochigi Prefecture.
This was my first real experience with winemaking, and I was deeply impressed by the staff's genuine attitude and high level of technical skill. I realized that this is how wine is truly made.
One unforgettable moment was in the spring of 2006 when I participated in a study tour of the Champagne and Loire regions in France with the staff from Coco Farm. There, I met people who were deeply in love with their vineyards and winemaking, as well as with the Earth and its future, which supported their agriculture and way of life.
From Independence to the Present In 2007, I finally embarked on the long journey that led to the current "Kondo Vineyard."
The first challenge was deciding where to plant the vineyard.
Hokkaido is the northernmost region in Japan for grape cultivation. Although more and more people have started vineyards in Hokkaido in recent years, it remains a harsh environment for wine grapes, with challenges like cold and snow. Choosing the vineyard's location was, quite literally, a life-changing decision.
After various connections and considerations, I decided to plant my vineyard in the Tappu area of Mikasa City. This vineyard is now called "Tap-Kop Farm" after the place name. The decision was ultimately based on my own inspiration and the people I met, despite wanting an ideal combination of sunlight, soil, and climate.
In the summer of 2007, I began the painstaking work of clearing a slope that had been left fallow for about 20 years, covered with trees and weeds. The trees in the middle of the vineyard today are remnants of that time.
After much hard work, I was finally able to restore the land to a usable state. In the spring of 2008, I planted about 0.6 hectares of grapes, including 0.3 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc and 0.3 hectares of mixed white varieties.
The story has been long, but this is how the journey that led to today's "Kondo Vineyard" unfolded. Looking back, I feel that the series of encounters and decisions that seemed coincidental at the time were, in fact, inevitable.